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The Tales series is one of the most popular JRPG series in existence, with 13 main titles (not including remakes) and a ton of spin-off games. Recently, producer Hideo Baba spoke in an interview with Weekly Famitsu how Namco Bandai is planning on their next in the series with a new and more modern look than its predecessors.

Having hit a milestone of 15 years with the release of Tales of Xillia, Baba expressed a renewed fervor among the development team. With Xillia having the crowning title of "15th anniversary release," already the bar had been set to increased levels, forcing the team to struggle to aim higher to surpass expectations. "I told the staff, ‘We don't want people to think that we were enthusiastic just because it was the 15th anniversary.'" said Baba.

While the Tales series has always been set in a sword and sorcery style of world, newly released images show an entirely different style of world from previous games. Images show a more civilized, tamed world, much more mechanical and inorganic than any previous game. Said Baba, "We want players to be surprised at first and think things like, ‘What is this!?' and ‘I've never seen this kind of Tales game before.'"

The overall theme of the new game will apparently be much darker than previous games, with a heavy emphasis on the possible destruction of the world… Then again, what RPG hasn't had THAT cliche come up before?

Details for the new game (including perhaps the title?) are scheduled to be announced next month at the 5th annual Tales of Festival on June 2nd and 3rd.